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(1) Summary of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of preparation of cherry derived compositions and to a method of use of the compositions derived from the cherries as phytoceutical/neutraceutical dietary supplements or as an additive to foods. In particular, the present invention provides a natural cherry composition containing a mixture of anthocyanins, bioflavonoids and phenolics for use as dietary supplements or as a food additive.
(2) Description of Related Art
Many plant-derived compounds may also impart important positive pharmacological or xe2x80x9cnutraceuticalxe2x80x9d traits to foods by way of their abilities to serve as cellular antioxidants by maintaining low levels of reactive oxygen intermediates, as anti-inflammatory agents by inhibiting prostaglandin synthesis, or as inhibitors of enzymes involved in cell proliferation. These activities may be important in ameliorating chronic diseases including cancer, arthritis, and cardiovascular disease (Kinsella et al., Food Tech. 85-89 (1993). Thus, with natural products, the dietary supplement/food industry and nutraceutical companies has the opportunity to employ compounds which can not only enhance food stability as effectively as synthetic antioxidants, but can also offer significant health benefits to the consumer.
Cherries are thought to have beneficial health properties in general. A preferred cherry is Prunus Cerasus L. (Rosacease), cv. MONTMORENCY which is the major tart cherry commercially grown in the United States. In order to challenge the MONTMORENCY monoculture, a new cultivar, BALATON tart cherry (Ujferbertoi furtos), was introduced into the United States in 1984, and has been tested in Michigan, Utah, and Wisconsin. BALATON produces fruits darker than MONTMORENCY.
Colorants like anthocyanins have been regarded as the index of quality in tart cherries. Most importantly, recent results showed that anthocyanins such as cyanidin-3-glucoside have strong antioxidant activities (Tsuda, T., et al, J. Agric. Food Chem. 42:2407-2410 (1994)). The addition of antioxidants is one of the popular methods to increase the shelf life of food products which is thought to be associated with lipid peroxidation. Natural antioxidants may play an important role in the prevention of carcinogenesis. Dietary antioxidants may be effective against the peroxidative damage in living systems (Halliwell, B. and J. M. C. Gutteridge, Free radicals in biology and medicine. Oxford University Press, New York 416-494 (1989); Osawa, T., et al, Role of dietary antioxidants in protection against oxidative damage. In antimutagenesis and anticarcinogenesis Mechanisms; Kuroda, Y.; Shankel, D. M., Waters, M. D., Eds.; Plenum Publishing. New York 139-153 (1990)).
Early studies have showed that MONTMORENCY cherry contains the anthocyanins cyanidin-3-gentiobioside and cyanidin-3-rutinoside (Li, K. C., et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 78:979-980 (1956)). Cyanidin-3-glucosylrutinoside was also found in six out of the seven sour cherry varieties (Harborne, J. B., et al., Phytochemistry 3:453-463 (1964)). Dekazos (Dekazos, E. D., J. Food Sci. 35:237-241 (1970)) reported anthocyanin pigments in MONTMORENCY cherry as peonidin-3-rutinoside, peonidin and cyanidin along with cyanidin-3-sophoroside, cyanidin-3-rutinoside and cyanidin-3-glucoside. However, cyanidin-3-glucosylrutinoside as. well as cyanidin-3-glucoside, cyanidin-3-sophoroside and cyanidin-3-rutinoside were identified as main pigments in sour cherries. Using HPLC retention values, Chandra et al (Chandra, A., et al., J. Agric. Food Chem. 40:967-969 (1992)) reported that cyanidin-3-sophoroside and cyanidin-3-glucoside . were the major and minor anthocyanins, respectively, in Michigan grown MONTMORENCY cherry. Similarly, cyanidin-3-xylosylrutinoside was detected as a minor pigment in MONTMORENCY cherry (Shrikhande, A. J. and F. J. Francis, J. Food Sci. 38:649-651 (1973)).
In the prior art, production of pure anthocyanins (compounds 1-3 of FIG. 1) from BALATON and MONTMORENCY cherry juices was carried out first by adsorbing the pigment on an AMBERLITE XAD-2 (Sigma Chemicals) column (Chandra, A., et al., J. Agric. Food Chem. 41:1062-1065 (1993)). The column was washed with water until the eluant gave a pH of approximately 7.0. The adsorbed pigments along with other phenolics were eluted with MeOH. The resulting crude anthocyanins were fractionated and purified by C-18 MPLC and HPLC, respectively, to afford pure anthocyanins for spectral studies. Purification of 500 mg crude MONTMORENCY anthocyanins from AMBERLITE XAD-2 yielded 60 mg of pure anthocyanins 1-3 compared to 391.43 mg from BALATON. This research indicated that crude anthocyanins from MONTMORENCY obtained from the XAD-2 contained a high percentage of other organic compounds. The AMBERLITE XAD-2 did not allow recycling of the resin. There was no attempt to use the crude mixture of phenolics and anthocyanins for any purpose. U.S. Pat. No. 5,266,685 to Garbutt, U.S. Pat. No. 5,665,783 to Katzakian et al and U.S. Pat. No. 5,817,354 to Mozaffar describe various adsorbent resins and their use for unrelated products. These patents are only illustrative of the general state of the art in the use of adsorbent resins.
U.S. Patent No. 5,503,867 to Pleva describes the use of whole ground cherries and oat bran in ground meat. The amount of cherries used was 10 to 15% by weight and the oat bran is believed to be added to compensate for the juice in the cherries. In any event, the cherries definitely contribute a flavor to the meat and the palatability of the product is not universally accepted.
Recent studies on stabilization of low-fat ground beef with cherry tissue suggest that this plant source contains potent antioxidants which not only suppress lipid peroxidation, but also inhibit formation of heterocyclic aromatic amines and cholesterol oxidation products during frying (Gomaa et al., IFT Abstracts No. 68E-7 (1996). The hypothesis used to explain these observations was that polyphenols, such as flavonoids, anthocyanins and anthocyanidins, frequently found in the vacuoles of higher plants such as the cherries were responsible for this antioxidant effect.
There is a need for natural cherry derived compositions for use, particularly as dietary supplements/nutraceutical or food additives.
The present invention relates to a method for producing a mixture comprising anthocyanins, bioflavonoids and phenolics from cherries as a composition which comprises:
(a) providing an aqueous solution containing the anthocyanins, bioflavonoids and phenolics from the cherries;
(b) removing the anthocyanins, bioflavonoids and phenolics onto a resin surface from the aqueous solution;
(c) eluting the resin surface with a eluant to remove the anthocyanins, bioflavonoids and phenolics from the resin surface; and
(d) separating the eluant from the anthocyanins, bioflavonoids and phenolics.
Further, the present invention relates to a method for producing anthocyanins, bioflavonoids and phenolics from cherries as a composition which comprises:
(a) providing a first batch of cherries, wherein the cherries are fresh or quick frozen and thawed;
(b) disrupting the cherries and separating pulp from the juice;
(c) extracting the anthocyanins, bioflavonoids and phenolics from the pulp into an aqueous solution;
(d) removing the anthocyanins, bioflavonoids and phenolics onto adsorbent resin particles from the aqueous solution containing the anthocyanins, bioflavonoids and phenolics separated from the pulp;
(e) washing the resin particles with a lower alkanol to remove the anthocyanins, bioflavonoids and phenolics from the resin particles;
(f) separating the alkanol from the anthocyanins, the bioflavonoids and phenolics; and
(g) repeating steps (a) to (e) with the separated alkanol and the resin particles from which the anthocyanins, bioflavonoids and phenolics have been removed with a second batch of the cherries.
Further, the present invention relates to a consumable composition which comprises in admixture:
(a) dried mixture of isolated anthocyanins, bioflavonoids and phenolics from cherries; and
(b) a food grade carrier, wherein the weight ratio of (a) to (b) is between about 0.1 to 100 and 100 to 0.1.
Finally, the present invention relates to a method for feeding a mammal which comprises:
feeding the mammal a consumable composition which comprises in admixture:
(a) dried mixture of isolated anthocyanins, bioflavonoids and phenolics removed from cherries; and
(b) a food grade carrier wherein the weight ratio of (a) to (b) is between about 0.1 to 100 and 100 to 0.1. It, is preferred that the composition contain at least in part dried cherry pulp.
The term xe2x80x9canthocyaninsxe2x80x9d means the compounds that impart color in cherries.
The term xe2x80x9cbioflavonoidsxe2x80x9d means the isoflavonoids and flavonoid compounds contained in cherries.
The term xe2x80x9cphenolicsxe2x80x9d refers to compounds with a phenyl group and having one or more hydroxyl groups from cherries.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a natural source cherry composition which can be used in foods or as dietary supplements or nutraceuticals. Further, it is an object of the present invention to provide a method for isolating the composition on a commercial scale. Finally, it is an object of the present invention to provide a natural source composition which is economical to prepare and easy to use. These and other objects will become increasingly apparent by reference to the following description and the drawings.